Not long ago we shared a list of the top-selling cheap golf balls of last season. This time around, we’re looking at the premium golf balls that dominated sales last year.
While the balls on last week’s list average roughly $25 a dozen, the leaders in the premium category sell for more than $50 a dozen. They include the most popular choices for avid and serious golfers who are willing to pay a comparable premium for the performance offered by multilayer constructions and urethane covers.
As with our previous list, here’s the fine print: not every place that sells golf balls reports sales data. With that, sales data for direct-to-consumer brands can be spotty. That said, it’s also true that, unlike most golf equipment categories, the majority of premium golf ball sales still happen on-course so there’s at least a case to be made that the data, while not perfect, is more reliable than it would be for other equipment categories.
Before we get to the top five, here are some things that you might find interesting.
Titleist dominates
Three of the top five best-selling golf balls are produced by Titleist.
For the sake of making a point, across the entire golf ball market, five of the top 10 bestsellers are made by Titleist and, with Pinnacle Rush next on the list, six of the top 11 best-selling golf balls are under the Acushnet umbrella.
Tour versus not quite Tour
The top-sellers in the Titleist and TaylorMade lineup are true Tour-level offerings while premium sales for Callaway (Chrome Soft), Srixon (Q-Star Tour) and Bridgestone (Tour B RX) are led by non-Tour (softer) urethane models.
Drawing lines
While it could be true that most golfers play cheap stuff (I maintain that what I find is the real “#1 ball in golf”), when it comes to the six million avid golfers that account for 90 percent of the dollars spent on golf in the U.S., the data suggests the majority choose premium/urethane offerings.
With that out of the way, here’s the list.
#1 – Titleist Pro V1
Excluding what I find, there’s no reasonable metric that doesn’t put the Pro V1 at the top of this list. Last season, roughly 40 percent more units were sold than the No. 2 ball on the market.
What more is there to say?
#2 – Titleist Pro V1x
Pro V1x is an interesting No. 2 among premium offerings given that it’s the ball that comes up most often in Titleist ball fittings. The takeaway is that you shouldn’t obsess over compression. Flight and spin are the things that matter most in ball fitting.
Worth a mention: unit sales of Pro V1x are nearly twice those of its closest competitor.
#3 – Callaway Chrome Soft
With the introduction of the Chrome Tour lineup, Callaway has pivoted towards true Tour-level constructions (and has gained some ground with Chrome Tour and Chrome Tour X) and Chrome Soft remains its top-selling urethane offering.
#4 – TaylorMade TP5
Trailing Chrome Soft by what amounts to not all that much, TP5 is TaylorMade’s best-selling model (including the ionomer stuff). Higher-flying and -spinning than Pro V1x, it’s not just for Tour players. It’s a spec that can work surprisingly well for slow to average swingers looking for higher flight and more spin through the bag.
#5 – Titleist AVX
A bit of an anti-TP5/anti-Pro V1x, AVX is the lowest-flying ball in the top five. Like Chrome Soft, it’s not what I would call a “Tour-level” offering but golfers love the extra iron distance. It’s also the rare soft-ish offering that can work well for high-speed players, especially those who need to reduce spin significantly.
Other notes
Rounding it out: Balls six through 10 among the top 10 best-selling premium golf balls are the TaylorMade TP5x, TaylorMade Tour Response, Callaway Chrome Tour, Callaway Chrome Tour X, and Srixon Q-Star Tour.
Q > Z: Srixon’s non-Tour Q-Star Tour slightly outsold the standard Z-Star (11th) and far outpaced the Z-Star XV (17th among premium offerings).
The other Pro V1: The Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash (12th among premium offerings) outsells everything in the Bridgestone lineup.
About those Bridgestone balls: Bridgestone’s bestseller, the TOUR B RX, is 13th on the list followed by TOUR B XS at 14th. Both lag behind the company’s ionomer offerings, e6 and e12 Contact. It’s odd (to me, anyway) that Titleist’s discontinued Tour Speed outsold the TOUR B X which, despite being Bridgestone’s most played on Tour, is third in sales among TOUR B offerings.
What about … ?: As I said at the start, data for DTC brands can be spotty but as new sales data providers emerge, eventually we’ll have a more complete picture.
While I don’t have any concrete proof, I wouldn’t be surprised if Vice trailed only the Big 3 and Maxfli was in Srixon territory. Kirkland may not be far off the pace although its dollar share likely more closely resembles an ionomer offering. But, again, that’s an educated guess at best.
The last note: the data we have contains the top 30 selling models across both categories. If your favorite ball or brand didn’t make the list, it’s because it falls outside of what’s commonly indexed or because sales volume is comparably low.
Surprises?
Is there anything here that surprised you? Let us know in the comments.
Pat Maweini
1 year ago
Marketing is everything. The average golfer sees Titleist all over the place. You only see Taylormade on youtube for the most part…….
I never see commercials for Callaway…….
Im a LEFT DOT player and ive never played a better ball but the 2019 TP5 was amazing and truly wish they brought this formula back to market